L.A. Mayoral Race Karen Bass Gets Celeb Donation$ ... Caruso Gets Celeb Tweets

L.A.'s mayoral race is officially a 2-horse competition between Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and Hollywood -- like the rest of America -- seems torn.

More celebs have shelled out traditional donations for Bass -- including some high-profile names like Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston and Samuel L. Jackson, but Caruso (who's a commercial real estate titan) seems to have more vocal support on social media.

That makes sense, as billionaire Caruso's been self-financing his campaign.

Here's a breakdown as Tuesday's election results continue to pour in.

Aside from the names mentioned above, Congresswoman Bass has also pulled in cash contributions from the likes of Jennifer Garner, JJ Abrams, Ken Jeong, Octavia Spencer, Sally Field and William H. Macy ... all of whom pitched in $1,500 each.

Jane Fonda donated $1,200, Donald Glover chipped in with $1,000, Rashida Jones another $1,000 and Helen Hunt pledged $500. So, a fair amount of dough from Hollywood.

While Caruso doesn't have nearly as many famous financial donors in his corner, his team tells us he's received a huge outpouring of online support ... which, arguably, is equally valuable.

Tweets for Caruso have come in from Kim K, Katy Perry, Elon Musk, Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg and Kris Jenner -- just to name a few.

Bass is no slouch on social media either ... she's gotten backing from Tiffany Haddish and John Legend, who openly called for Angelenos to support her at the voting booths.

It remains to be seen who might emerge victorious, but if the latest polling can be believed ... neither candidate will get 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary -- and that means they'll have a runoff in November.

BTW, Caruso -- who'd been a lifelong Republican until recently -- is running as a Dem, as is Bass. He's got the biz expertise, but she has years of legislative experience in D.C. and Sacramento.

Get out and vote!

Steve Harvey I Should Do All My Breakups On IG!!! Jokes About Lori & Michael B. Jordan Split

JUNE 2022
FIGURING IT OUT
The Steve Harvey Morning Show

Steve Harvey didn't wait too long to start crackin' jokes about his daughter's breakup with Michael B. Jordan ... and admits he might've learned a new way to avoid another costly divorce.

Steve talked about his daughter Lori Harvey parting ways with MBJ on his morning show Monday ... and can't help himself from getting in a laughing mood while doing so.

He says his kids are teaching him to "get out early" from relationships ... and even thinks a breakup on social media is the way to go -- citing court costs as a dealbreaker. Don't forget, the guy's been divorced 2 times, and had quite the fight in court back in 2018.

Steve's ex-wife Mary sued him for $60M over mental anguish, saying she was suicidal in the wake of their 2005 divorce. The judge just threw out her case, because it belonged in front of a judge in Texas ... where the divorce was handled.

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As we reported, Michael and Lori reportedly split after being together for over a year ... the reason is still unknown, but the two hadn't posted about each other online in months.

Lori seems to have scrubbed her socials, removing any trace of MBJ ... so, yeah.

IG Model Big Boobs Didn't Get Her Kicked Off Plane ... Claim Airline Sources

The Instagram model who says she got booted from an airplane because of her massive breasts doesn't have the facts straight ... so say sources at the airline.

Mary Magdalene -- as she calls herself on social media -- claims American Airlines removed her from a flight because of a revealing tank top she wore on a flight from Canada to the U.S.

However, sources at AA tell us that wasn't the case, instead they say flight attendants noticed Mary sitting in several different seats before takeoff ... seats that weren't her ticketed one.

TUESDAY
SIPPIN' A DRINK
TMZ.com

We're told airline employees believed the woman appeared to be intoxicated and she seemed unstable, so flight attendants and the captain asked her to leave -- she left without incident, and cops did not have to get involved.

We've also obtained video of Mary walking around the airport holding a massive cup ... although we can't tell what she was drinking.

Of course, this story is very different from Mary's take on the situation -- the IG model claims she got tossed for being "too explicit" in a tank top that barely covered her 22 lbs. of boobs.

She says she got booked on a different flight, but claims the whole incident was disgusting and dehumanizing ... and insists she's going to sue.

NeNe Leakes I Would Never Steal Someone's Husband ... Claps Back at BF's Wife

I'M NOT A THIEF!!!

NeNe Leakes says she's no husband stealer ... clapping back at her boyfriend's wife, who sued her and claimed she hooked up with him when he was still married.

The former 'RHOA' star just broke her silence on the lawsuit she's facing in North Carolina ... posting a video on social media where she says she "would never" steal somebody's husband.

TMZ broke the story ... NeNe is being sued by Malomine Tehmeh-Sioh, who claims in a new lawsuit Leakes and now-BF Nyonisela Sioh started a romantic relationship while he was still Malomine's hubby.

NeNe seemed to take a veiled shot at Malomine earlier Thursday, posting a pic with Nyonisela with the caption "yours, mine, ours" ... a lyric from a Muni Long song.

The video is much more direct, and NeNe is not only denying the explosive allegations, but also laughing them off ... cackling as she says, "nobody want to steal nobody else's problems honey."

As we first told you ... NeNe and Nyonisela went public with their relationship back in December, some 3 months after NeNe's husband, Gregg, died from cancer.

Ari Lennox IG Official with New Boo Thang ... 'Married at First Sight' Star

Forget a hot girl summer for R&B star Ari Lennox, 'cause she's all boo'd up.

The First Lady of J. Cole's Dreamville Records hit Instagram Thursday to reveal she's been chilling heavy with Keith Manley II of "Married at First Sight" fame.

Both appear to be in San Diego for a wedding with Ari sharing pics of the pair together and Keith giving it a more subtle touch with a pic of their hands bound in a loving grasp.

Keith appeared on the 9th season of 'MAFS,' and enthused audiences with the ups and downs of his marriage to Iris Caldwell ... but obviously, they're not a thing anymore.

In an interview with Essence last year, Ari revealed how she had trouble landing a man because they were scared of her dog: a large male Akita.

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Galactus, the pooch, certainly wasn't an obstacle for Keith because they appear to be head over heels for one another. Congrats to the new couple!

Instagram Model My Big Boobs Got Me Booted Off Flight!!!

An Instagram model says she was booted from a flight because of her 22-pound boobs ... and now she's threatening a lawsuit.

The Canadian model, who goes by Mary Magdalene on social media, says she was kicked off a recent flight from Canada to Dallas for looking "too explicit."

MM says she got the heave-ho shortly after being seated, on a $5,000 ticket no less, and says she's not buying the reason given by the airline crew ... that she was booted for wearing headphones and ignoring instructions from the flight attendant.

Instead, the model claims she was kicked off the plane because her boobs were too big for her top ... and now she's crying discrimination and calling the whole experience disgusting and dehumanizing.

In a selfie posted from the plane, the model is wearing a sports bra and has earphones in ... but she says it's obvious which is the bigger foul.

The model says she finally made it to America on a later flight, but she's still got beef with the airline and society ... saying discrimination against "enhanced bodies" is very common.

MM, who has dropped six figures on a wide array of plastic surgeries in her life, says she is going to sue.

Johnny Depp Social Media Support Measured in Billions!!! ... Left Amber in the Dust

Johnny Depp's monumental win was based on the conclusions of 7 jurors ... but BILLIONS of others may have influenced that decision.

Pretty much everyone, including Amber Heard's lawyer, concedes it was impossible for jurors to turn a blind eye to the flurry of activity on TikTok and other social media platforms chronicling the trial.

Now get this ... the #JusticeforJohnny had more than 19 BILLION views on TikTok. By contrast, #JusticeforAmberHeard had a relatively meager 81 million views.

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No doubt, jurors did NOT believe Amber Heard and her claims of domestic violence against Johnny, and the social media support for their conclusions undeniably made them feel comfortable about embracing their conclusions.

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After the verdict, Johnny and Amber posted their reactions, and again ... it was lopsided. Johnny received more than 16 million likes, while Amber's support was a relative anemic 300,000.

BTW ... Johnny has 22.7M Instagram followers, to Amber's 5M.

UNFAIR TREATMENT
NBC

This trial marked a sea change in media coverage of trials. Social media was undeniably more powerful, influential and omnipresent than traditional media. No contest.

Ewan McGregor Slams Racist 'Star Wars' Fans ... Leave Moses Ingram Alone

NO PLACE FOR HATE

Ewan McGregor is pulling out his lightsaber to defend one of his costars, Moses Ingram, who's been subjected to yet another round of racist attacks from a gross group of fans.

The actor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi, posted a video through the official 'Star Wars' social media account, in which he strongly denounced all the hate that MI has gotten the past few weeks -- this as the franchise's new Disney+ rolls out on the streaming service.

Check out EMG's message to those who've sent vile DMs to Moses -- a Black woman who recently shared some of the comments, a few of which invoked the N-word among other racist statements and threats ... including the ominous line, "Your days are numbered."

Ewan explains Moses is a brilliant actor and brings so much to the new 'Obi-Wan' series as Reva Sevander -- one of Darth Vader's key henchmen. She's a new character to the franchise, BTW

He says it succinctly ... as the lead actor/EP on the show, he's firmly in Moses' corner, as is the rest of the 'Star Wars' team. Ewan adds that anyone bullying her is no fan in his mind.

This isn't the first time an actor of color has fallen in the crosshairs of racist 'Star Wars' fanatics. Kelly Marie Tran experienced something similar when she was cast in the new trilogy ... and the harassment got so bad, she had to deactivate her social media for a while.

It's been an ongoing problem for Disney, but now ... they got their lead man speaking up. Time will tell if he can get the legion of 'SW' lovers in order here.

Kim Kardashian See, I Really Did Eat 'Beyond' Products Posts Vid Chowing Down

ABOVE AND BEYOND

Kim Kardashian did, in fact, go to town on Beyond Meat products ... a point she really wanted to prove in a newly surfaced video from a recent commercial she did for the company.

ICYMI, Kim K came under a lot of fire for an advertisement she recently did for the plant-based meat substitute. In it, Kim said she'd been named the company's new taste consultant ... yet people online noticed the ad never showed Kim actually taking a bite of any of the items she was holding.

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Kim attempted to quiet all the trolls Tuesday, posting a ton of outtakes from the commercial where she bites into tenders, sausage and even a burger -- though she ditched the top bun to cut carbs.

Kim didn't caption the outtakes video, but it's pretty clear that her intention of putting it up was to prove she does eat the product.

Yung Miami's Mother I'm Not Swimming in Lil Baby Thirst Trap ... I 😍 Everybody!!!

Yung Miami's "twin" mother, Keenya Young AKA "Ms. Yung 305," has Instagram thinking she's trying to get with her daughter's Quality Control labelmate Lil Baby, but she insists it's a case of mistaken emoji motives.

The proud mama, who's known to strongly support her daughter's rap endeavors, swooped in on Baby's latest IG model shoot with a trio of heart emojis ... alerting several social media outlets in the process.

Once blog Onsite! attempted to make the emoji bombs a story, Ms. Yung 305 decided she needed to clear her name by pointing out an Instagram emoji doesn't mean anything but a button push!

Notwithstanding the irony of wearing a Cleveland Indians baseball hat with an anti-racism shirt  ... Lil Baby is one of the most fashionable rappers out, so it's hard to blame Mama Miami for calling it like she saw it!

We're inclined to believe mom on this one -- she is the CEO of a kid's clothing company and beauty line, after all. So, if she really wanted a date, she'd just do what bosses do and pull up!

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In addition to his luxury goods, Lil Baby is currently in his music bag ... having hopped on SleazyWorld Go's popular "Sleazy Flow" for the remix released today -- and he's gearing up for hot summer with the release of his new album in July.

Texas Mass Shooting Alleged Killer Sent IG Message to Girl 'Got a Secret to Tell You'

The man who gunned down 19 children and 2 adults in the latest shooting massacre was telegraphing his deadly plan to a random woman on social media ... weeks before his act.

The messages have surfaced online from what appears to be a female minor in Los Angeles -- who says the 18-year-old suspect DM'd her on May 12 out of the blue and for no apparent reason at all ... explaining she has no idea who he is or why he reached out.

The alleged shooter tagged her in a photo he posted of his guns -- including what seem to be semi-automatic rifles that resemble AR-15s -- and then proceeded to start a private chat.

Of the many disturbing DMs he sent, this one was the most chilling ... "I got a lil secret I wanna tell u. I'm about to..." Apparently, he never revealed his exact intentions -- dancing around the subject/playing coy as the girl engaged him ... totally confused and flabbergasted.

The man went back and forth with her for a while, telling her she oughta be grateful he tagged her -- and then on Tuesday, he said this ... "Ima air out." The girl clearly didn't know what he was talking about, and seemed to acknowledge as much with follow-up questions.

In the aftermath of the onslaught Tuesday ... the girl revealed these messages and defended herself -- insisting she had no idea what this guy would do, and explaining she only engaged him to try to deter him from committing a horrible act.

The shooter, who we're not naming, shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX ... where he barricaded himself in classrooms and opened fire, eventually getting taken out by law enforcement.

He's said to have been armed with a rifle and a handgun during the bloodshed ... and apparently loaded up on a ton of heavy artillery on his 18th birthday, all of which seem to have been obtained legally.

It's the worst mass shooting here in the States that's occurred in quite some time -- comparable to the awful Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012. Of course, this follows yet another mass shooting in Buffalo less than 2 weeks ago ... where 10 people were killed in cold blood.

Kourtney Kardashian I'm Taking My Hubby's Last Name ... At Least on Instagram

Kourtney Kardashian is changing her name to Kourtney Kardashian Barker ... at least on social media ... taking her husband's last name after marrying Travis in Italy.

Kourtney made the name change Monday on her official Instagram page, which now shows Travis' last name tacked on to her name, with a flaming heart emoji.

KKB is still rocking her original Insta handle ... kourtneykardash ... at least for now.

As you know ... Kourtney and Travis got hitched over the weekend in a lavish wedding in Italy, exchanging vows in front of friends and family, including Kim Kardashian and Mark Hoppus.

SWEET SERENADE
Instagram / @kimkardashian

The wedding was held at the Dolce & Gabbana estate in Portofino. The reception at Castello Brown saw Andrea Bocelli sing as Kourtney and Travis had one of their first dances as husband and wife.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE
BACKGRID

The Italian ceremony was the latest for the lovebirds ... they've also had weddings in Las Vegas and Santa Barbara, and have another celebration planned in Los Angeles.

It will be interesting to see if Kourtney takes Travis' last name legally, or just sticks with it on IG.

Stay tuned ...

Kanye West I'm Back, Instagram McDonalds Collab Coming

Kanye West is breaking his social media silence to let folks know what he's been cooking up ... a new design for McDonald's packaging.

That's right. Kanye posted about his new business venture, Monday, on Instagram ... after being ghosted from the platform for the last few months.

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He posted a photo of the potentially new design and wrote, "Ye teams up with legendary Muji industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa to reimagine McDonald’s packaging" ... just after posting an IG story that said, "Next week it's the fries".

BTW, the fries line is an ode to Ye's verse in his song "Gold Digger" where he raps, "He got that ambition, baby, look at his eyes. This week he moppin' floors, next week it's the fries."

As we've reported, Ye was spotted out in Tokyo with his girlfriend Chaney Jones earlier this month ... so this might explain the reason for the visit.

TMZ broke the story, Kanye was suspended from Instagram back in March after his attacks on Pete Davidson, Kim Kardashian and a racist post aimed at Trevor Noah.

The design sorta falls in line with the minimalistic design Ye uses for his clothing and shoe brand, Yeezy.

Freddie Gibbs Drama Serves Me Well ... But I Have Love for Everyone in Rap!!!

GOTTA BE THAT WAY

Freddie Gibbs knows he's swimming in dangerous waters sometimes -- when it comes to stirring up feuds in hip hop -- but he's openly choosing to go that route ... a statement that turned out to be pretty prophetic.

Gangsta Gibbs is set to be the first guest on the Paramount+ series “ Yo! MTV Raps” which premieres on Tuesday, May 24, via the streaming service.

When asked by hosts Conceited and DJ Diamond Kuts about the nature of his constant Internet beefs -- which most recently include DJ Akademiks and Gunna -- Freddie admitted he loves hip hop pundits, and the hijinks of trash-talking … claiming no one was going to get hurt or get punched.

Mind you, this interview was shot a couple weeks ago ... before Freddie got into that real-life Royal Rumble in Buffalo!!! Soooo, his prediction of no one getting hurt was a bit off the mark.

MASSIVE BRAWL
TMZ.com

TMZ broke the story … Freddie was eating at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Benny The Butcher’s hood when all-out chaos ensued and what seems like 20 or so people joined the melee.

Freddie got lumped up pretty good, but still managed to perform that evening to keep his Space Rabbit Tour going strong.

"Yo! MTV Raps" also has interviews set with Latto, Tee Grizzley, JID and more for the upcoming season -- but it's gonna be tough to top Freddie's Nostradamus impression.

'Euphoria' Star Sydney Sweeney Swimsuit Line Sues ... You Bailed On Us!!!

Sydney Sweeney broke an agreement with a swimwear brand to promote their products, then turned around and wore the suits on "Euphoria" ... this according to a new lawsuit.

The HBO star is being sued by the swim and lifestyle brand LA Collective for allegedly breaking her contract to model and promote the company's swimsuits.

According to docs obtained by TMZ, the fashion brand claims it reached an agreement with Sydney last year, where she would be the influencer for the launch of their new line, "Somewhere Swimwear."

The brand says Sydney initially appeared to be on board and approved all their designs and production prototypes ... but they claim her camp suddenly canceled the agreement without any explanation or cause, refusing to proceed.

And, get this ... the brand claims Sydney then appropriated the designs for her own use, wearing the swimsuits on at least 5 episodes of "Euphoria."

The swimwear company says they expected to sell more than $3 million worth of suits under the deal and want the actress to cough up big damages for backing out.

We reached out to Sydney's camp ... so far no word back.

Diddy Caught in Yung Miami & Gina H. Love Triangle ... GFs Feuding Over Him!!!

Diddy is all about "love" these days ... maybe a little too much, because 2 women in his life are going at each other now after both were in Las Vegas where he hosted the Billboard Music Awards.

In one corner, City Girls rapper Yung Miami, and in the other Diddy's muse, model Gina Huynh -- Miami was at the BBMAs as a presenter, while Gina was a very interested spectator. She posted from the show, saying "Baby Daddy is hosting Billboards."

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Diddy after-partied hard Sunday night with Yung Miami, but things got messy Tuesday when Gina shared a pic of Brother Love's lips on her cheek -- and prompted YM to fire off more than a few subtweets.

Most notably, she's saying she will continue to see Diddy no matter how many pics Gina drops on the 'Gram.

And, then it got nasty as Gina invited Miami to dine on male genitalia -- not Diddy's we're guessing -- and eventually plugged her own rap song.

Diddy, for his part, has remained mum about the women sparring over him ... at least, publicly. Seems wise.

He didn't get to be worth a reported $885 million by making dumb moves!

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